Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

In medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add butter and stir as it melts, then return to a boil. Add flour and salt all at once and stir vigorously until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat and add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each until smooth. Drop by heaping tablespoons, 3 inches apart, on a cookie sheet.

Most Helpful Positive Review

Mar 02, 2009

I also only made the pastry but since that is the main point of this recipe, that is what I will comment on. As someone previously mentioned, some of the directions are needelessly complicated or leave out important steps. First, this is the classic cream puff dough recipe with 1C water, 1 stick butter, 1C flour and 1C eggs (far easier to measure since each egg is slightly different). Mix the butter and water together and heat to a boil (no need to heat separately and if you boil too long some of the water will boil off changing the ration of liquid to dry ingredientes with is very important in this type of recipe). Remove from heat, dump in the flour/salt and stir until dough forms. Let COOL for 10+ minutes. Place dough in stand mixer with paddle attachment and add eggs one at a time until a smooth dough forms. Use 2 soup spoons to place dough (will be very sticky) on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at first at 400 for about 10 minutes (causes dough to puff up) then reduce heat to 350 and bake ~25 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool. If you bake them correctly then won't flop and there won't be a need to remove any raw dough from the center. Most recipes show 2 different temps for baking, one to puff and the other to finish baking the dough. Fill with your desired filling.

Most Helpful Critical Review

Mar 21, 2004

I really liked the way the dough turned out. Nice and crisp. However, I thought that the filling needed something else. It didn't have much taste and it was too liquidy. Pudding might be a better alternative. I had to put them in the freezer just to be able to eat them so that the filling wouldn't leak out.

I made 2 batches of these the other day. My first go wasn't great because i split them open so they lost the puffiness in the look. I didn't split the puffs on my second batch, I only made a hole in the side of each with the back end of a wooded spoon. The whipped cream was great, but deflated overnight. I found a recipe to keep your whipped cream stiff by adding 2 tablespoons of dry instant vanilla pudding to the mixture, and be sure to use powdered sugar which helps the whipped cream stay stiffer. I will be making these again - they did taste great.

I found this recipe helpful, but didn't see the need to scoop out the soft dough. Once baked and cooled, I didn't have a lot of soft dough inside of these. I love sweetened whipped cream and found it to my liking when I made these. I just made certain that the heavy cream was whipped to form stiff peaks and filled the cream puffs rather full, serving them immediately is the trick! If you cannot serve them right away, I suggest freezing them. Take them out of the freezer about an hour before you do serve them.
I used chocolate syrup instead of the melted chocolate chips. Any flavored syrup, like strawberry, would also be good.

I love this cream puffs. I added 1 1/2 tsp. sugar into the pastry mixture and 3 eggs instead of 4. If after adding 3 large eggs, the dough is thick and fall steadily from the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl, you don't have to add the 4th egg. Add the 4th egg only if the dough still clinging to the beaters. I stored it in the freezer and the filling tasted like ice-cream. Yummylicious!

This is a really great recipe. This was my first time making cream puffs, and let me tell you! They turned out wonderful: light, fluffy, and very good. I didn't make the cream (I used cool-whip instead), but the outside part came out very well.

These were a good cream puff but I wasn't quite sure if it was necessary to remove the softer insides. I replaced the filling with a mixture of vanilla pudding and cool whip-it was great! Definetly make sure to cook long enought to make them nice and crisp.

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

**Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.

(-)Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.